Spain – new plastics recycling plant puts a stop to tipping

BPB -Bizkaiko Plastiko Berziklategia- is the result of the latest cooperation project involving Basque public company Garbiker and a Trienekens group subsidiary in the Basque Country. EITB reports that Bizkaiko Plástico Berziklategia (BPB), a new recycling plant inaugurated in Amorebieta, near Bilbao, will prevent some 8,000 tons of polyethylene film, used in supermarket shopping bags and similar products, being dumped annually on the local environment.



Trienekens is a German group specialising in cutting-edge recycling processes. Getting the new plant up and running required a six million Euro investment, 70 per cent of which was put up by Trienekens, with the remaining 30 per cent coming from local concern Bizkaiko Zabor Berziklategia (BZB).



Located on the Zubieta industrial estate, the new plant was inaugurated by Vizcaya Provincial Council chief executive Jose Luis Bilbao and Trienekens group chairman in the Basque Country Rebecca Trienekens. Both stressed the fact that the facility was very much a "leading-edge" initiative, one that would take its "raw material" from all over the north of Spain. BPB‘‘s plastic film treatment process was, furthermore, a pioneer in Europe, being the first to recycle this particular material.



Built on an 8,000 square-metre site, BPB started life with a workforce of 18 and in its first full year is expected to process 5,000 tons of polyethylene film rescued from the familiar yellow street refuse containers, turning them into a reusable plastic base for new products. When working at fill tilt, the plant will deal with 8,000 tons a year.



José Luis Bilbao described the new Trienekens group venture in Basque Country as a "major step forward" in the Provincial Council‘‘s ongoing bid to reach its ambitious targets in the treatment and recycling of solid urban waste.



According to Rebecca Trienekens, the new business would solve the problem caused by plastics that could not, until now, be recycled. The environmental advantages were clear, as were the savings for plastic product manufacturers, who would at last have cheaper, quality recycled plastic available